State Police veteran among three firearms rights activists on the NRA board

James M. Odato

Published 11:23 pm, Sunday, December 30, 2012

Photo: Damian Dovarganes

Image 1of/2

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 2

A variety of military-style semiautomatic rifles obtained during a buy back program are displayed at Los Angeles police headquarters on Thursday, Dec. 27,2012. Similar weapons have been used in at least four high-profile shootings in the past year, including most recently the Connecticut school shootings and the Christmas Eve killings of two New York firefighters. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) less

A variety of military-style semiautomatic rifles obtained during a buy back program are displayed at Los Angeles police headquarters on Thursday, Dec. 27,2012. Similar weapons have been used in at least four ... more

Photo: Damian Dovarganes

Image 2 of 2

Times Union Staff Photo--Michael P. Farrell--Thomas King, Director of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association in front of a Civil Warr print at his office in Troy, New York Tuesday Sept. 7, 2004. (for Jordan Carleo-Evangelist gun story) gun control less

Times Union Staff Photo--Michael P. Farrell--Thomas King, Director of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association in front of a Civil Warr print at his office in Troy, New York Tuesday Sept. 7, 2004. (for ... more

Photo: Staff Photographer

State Police veteran among three firearms rights activists on the NRA board

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

New York has three strong voices on the 76-member board of directors of the National Rifle Association, including two outspoken gun rights activists and a senior investigator with the New York State Police.

Cushman and King speak highly of the NRA leadership and fully endorse Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's call for armed security personnel at schools nationwide. They say they do not agree with calls for gun reform in Albany.

DeBergalis would not discuss his positions or his participation with the NRA. "Right now I just respectfully decline," he said. "He can say whatever he wants to say," said State Police spokeswoman Darcy Wells. "He can speak freely as representing himself, as long as he doesn't imply that he's speaking for the State Police."

As NRA board members, the three New Yorkers help select the president of the powerful lobbying group. They also attend regular meetings, typically in Virginia. King said LaPierre's call for armed guards at schools comports with a position he's held for years. "What the NRA is proposing is putting trained professionals in," King said. "If you talk to cops, sheriffs, they'll tell you that's not a bad idea." He said he would not give names of law enforcement officials with whom he has consulted.

DeBergalis, a $104,600-per-year supervisor of State Police investigators, is King's aide as vice president of the Rifle & Pistol Association, a group whose activities include donating to political candidates. King said the association plans to contact elected officials with thousands of letters in coming weeks.

When he ran for re-election to the NRA board, DeBergalis' website listed his qualifications as "veteran law enforcement professional"; overseer of shooting competitions and training sessions; "match chairman" for the AR15.Com Rockcastle 3-gun Championship sponsored by Brownells, Sinclair, the PoliceStore.com and Hornady; and "site staff" for the AR-15.Com Home of the Black Rifle. The AR-15 is a semiautomatic rifle.

King said his pistol association, with 40,000 members, will join with New York's 300,000 NRA members in contacting lawmakers who may be asked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to restrict gun possession in the wake of the recent slayings by semiautomatic rifle-wielding murderers of school children and educators at Newtown, Conn. and firefighters near Rochester. King said his group will be trying to defend the Second Amendment. The issue can be emotional, King said.

"I've been threatened. Anti-gun people are some of the nastiest people," King said. Speaking as the SAFE president, Cushman, a former Marine, said firearm reforms often add to societal dangers. "It's because of gun laws those children lost their life," he said. A measure that set up gun-free zones prevented school personnel from legally carrying arms to work, he said.

Lawmakers, he said, "seem to be going in the other direction, making it more difficult to exercise this right we have."